In the time it takes you to read this post, roughly three people will have developed dementia. Yup. 225,000 develop dementia every year, and it can happen to anyone. As you all know, it happened to my Grandads. Currently there is no cure, but Alzheimer's Society work tirelessly to support people to live well with dementia today, and fight for a tomorrow without it.
There are over 3,000 community based services around the UK providing all kinds of support. From information and hands on help to research and campaigning, further details of all their amazing work can be found on the website, here. I've spent a lot of time on the Alzheimer's Society website over the past couple of weeks and I have learnt so much more that I had no idea about...and it's made me even more determined than ever to raise that £1,000 this summer. My heart and soul are in this with me.
Please, please, please take a peep at my JustGiving page. With payday just around the corner now, even the cheekiest of £5 donations will make all the difference. I am so grateful for all of the support and sponsorship I've received so far - huge thank yous to everyone who has already donated...there will be some special thank you gifts coming your way in due course, all of which themed on memories we have shared personally together.
So...marathon training. Where are we up to?
Well I spent some time in the pub this weekend with my friend AC Muir who is a 2hr 24min London Marathon finisher. That's VERY VERY FAST AND AMAZING. And even though I am nowhere neeeear that kind of caliber, AC has very kindly spent time talking through my training schedule and demonstrating the perfect set of strides outside the pub, before too many pints of cider were consumed.
He was also on hand to offer sympathy via Twitter today, following my epic tumble while out on my short recovery run this morning. I tripped myself up on some uneven paving and properly flew like a good'n, complete with a comedy sound effect that epitomised my thoughts of "OH MY GOD I AM IN THE AIR AND I AM GOING DOWN AND THIS IS HAPPENING AND WILL PROBABLY HURT AND WHEN DID THE GROUND GET SO FAR AWAY?!"
And I went from travelling at pace to travelling at no pace at all in about half a second. In four an a half years of running, this is the first time I've ever fallen over - so I'm glad I could throw in a full-blown commando roll while I was at it. And yes...people saw me. And two dogs, wagging their tails with gusto. Cheeky buggers.
As far as falling over goes, I totally nailed it. I've not had scabby knees in about 20yrs, so I thought I might as well just do a proper job.
I didn't get as much mollycoddling as I'd hoped from the flatmates. Luckily (for them), I too appreciate how amusing it is to see me sat with two sandwich bags of ice on my knees while trying to solicit sympathy.
Anyway - that's what I get for being so keen.
Running chat: at AC's advising, I've incorporated some threshold runs into my training plan, running a solid 30mins at a comfortably hard pace and incorporating four sets of 80m strides. The strides feel a bit unnatural at first, but I really enjoy the sensation of really picking up the pace and striding out for short bursts - anything more and I'm dying, honestly. I'm also doing some split timings, but that's for another day.
I'm looking forward to getting the mileage up over the weeks to come. It's a far cry from training in the winter for LA Marathon. Waking up at 5.30am to natural daylight is just blissful, and although it's not particularly warm and sunny in Scotland just yet, it's a damn sight more pleasant than pitch darkness, regular sleet and dangerous patchy ice.
Special love also goes out this week to my bff Laurence - she listens to all of my boring running chat and puts up with me admirably and I'd be lost without her. So cheers to this gorgeous little bird.
That's all for now - in addition to planning for Berlin Marathon I'm currently obsessed with the following things:
Thanks for sticking with me, muckers.
Nikki. xxx
No comments:
Post a Comment